For Richer Or Poorer
by Northern-Southern Belle
Summary: When spoiled Princess Katherine rejects Prince Elijah for the most shallow of reasons and then hears her exasperated father say that he'll give her to the next man to show up, whether he's rich or poor, he schemes with his warlock adviser, taking on the guise of a poor minstrel then getting the vain Katherine as a wife, hoping she'll learn humility so they can be married. One-shot


Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine!

Princess Katherine stared out the window of her bedroom and sighed as she thought about how her father the king was, at that very moment, making up invitations to all the princes of the nearby kingdoms so they could come to her father's castle for inspection and have a decision made as to whether they were fit for the position of his future son-in-law.

There was no way out of the marriage. No way of convincing her father that even though she was a woman, and his only child, that she could take over the throne after he died, even though she was _more_ confident that she could rule the kingdom successfully without a man at her side.

She then turned away from the window as a knock on the door caught her attention. "Come in," she called and sat down on her bed. Her father came in and beamed at her. "All the invitations have been sent out," he said jovially. "You shall have quite a selection of eligible young men to choose from in the coming days if all goes according to plan."

"Father, I've told you this many times," she told him firmly. "I don't see why I need to marry. I feel that after watching you rule the kingdom for so many years, I could handle it myself. Don't you believe that?"

"Yes, I do," her father sighed. "But you know that our line is in a very insecure place right now, and I would feel much better if I knew that you were married and had a husband to take care of you and a child to carry on our bloodline."

Katherine gave him a long look, sighed, and then hugged him. "I suppose that since your reason for wanting me to marry doesn't have anything to do with the fact that you think I'm incompetent and would rather have a man rule in my stead, I have no choice but to agree with you. I consent to meeting all these men, but I have to warn you, Father: I have very strict requirements for my future husband."

"That doesn't worry me," her father replied. "With all the men that will be coming, I'm sure that at least _one_ of them will catch your fancy."

* * *

He couldn't have been more wrong, though. Despite trying to make an honest effort to pick a man from the legions of suitors that descended upon the palace, Katherine just didn't like any of them and wasn't shy about saying so. She bluntly criticized the weight of one, and the bad teeth of another, among other insults, and when finally, one man was left, her father hoped he would be the one.

He was Prince Elijah from the Far Kingdom (that wasn't actually its name; Katherine just didn't feel like remembering what it was actually called.) She didn't recognize him on account of the fact that he wore a bushy dark beard that obscured many of his handsome features. Katherine hopped off her throne and began circling him. "Are you really Prince Elijah from the Far Kingdom?" She asked.

"Yes, I am," he replied and bowed. "I've come to ask for your hand in marriage, princess."

Katherine looked at him for a long moment and then burst out laughing. "Are you serious?" She got out when she could get a breath. "You come in here looking like a…like a homeless man, and you expect me to fall in love with you? I won't! And it's a real shame, too. Cause I had thought about it, once."

Prince Elijah's eyes narrowed and he spat at her feet before turning on his heel and storming off, while her father ran after him and tried to calm him down so he wouldn't declare war on their kingdom while shouting at Katherine that he would make her marry the next man who came to the door, whether he be rich or poor.

When her father returned, his face was red with anger. Katherine wasn't afraid, though. She just stood up, strode over to him, and said, "It seems I didn't find anyone. I'll have to rule the kingdom on my own now when the time comes."

Her father just glared at her and ordered the guards to drag her off to the dungeons so she could spend the night amongst the rats and filth thinking about the repercussions of what she'd done.

* * *

Elijah barely looked up when his valet entered the room. He'd gotten back from Katherine's kingdom and locked himself away "Will we be hearing wedding bells soon, sir?" The man asked.

"No," Elijah said flatly. "Princess Katherine is completely insufferable. As whiny, shallow, and vain as ever."

"Such a pity," The valet replied. "There was a time when you were certain that you and she would wed."

"Please don't remind me," Elijah ordered. "And prepare my bath, would you? I'm sure the ministers have some opinion about what just happened that they'd like me to hear. News travels fast."

"Of course," his valet nodded. "Right away."

Once Elijah's bath was readied, he undressed and got in it, and while he soaked and was washed off, he thought of how to deal with Princess Katherine. He knew he had to do _something_ , but part of him felt it would be wrong to punish her father's whole kingdom for her selfishness. She and she alone, would pay for what she did.

By the time he reached the room where his ministers held their meetings, he'd reached a decision about what to do with her, so that when his minister of war handed him the declaration to sign so they could dispatch troops to Katherine's father's kingdom, he pushed the declaration away.

"We won't be having any wars," he said firmly. "I won't punish Princess Katherine's kingdom for what she did. I have something completely different in mind. Something that might actually teach her a lesson for once in her life."

He then called his warlock to tell him what the plan was: that he wanted the warlock to disguise him as a poor minstrel so that he could make his way back to Katherine's palace.

"Why would you want to go back there when she's treated you so badly?" The warlock asked.

"I-I guess because, deep down, a part of me still feels for her like I once did," Elijah replied truthfully. "And I'm probably the only person around for miles who would have her. As I was leaving, I heard her father shout at her that he's going to force her to marry the next man that comes to the palace doors, no matter if he's rich or poor."

"I see," the warlock smiled. "You believe that if you teach her humility again, you'll be able to love her as much as you once did."

"Well, I don't know if it will work," Elijah replied. "But I hope it will."

* * *

The next day, in the guise of a clean shaven minstrel, Elijah made his way back to Katherine's father's palace, hoping that no one else had gotten to her first and taken her away. When he knocked on the door, Katherine's father let him in and gave him a seat by the fire.

"I want you to meet someone," he said and brought Elijah a horrified Katherine. "If you are unmarried sir, I would like to offer you my daughter's hand."

Elijah got up from the chair and came to study her, much in the same way she'd studied him the day before. "She's beautiful," he conceded at last. "But as you probably realize, sir, I am a poor minstrel and I need a strong wife who's capable of doing work. Your daughter doesn't seem strong enough for such duties. But I suppose beggars can't be choosers, can they?" And as Katherine's jaw dropped in indignation, he picked her up, carried her out the door, dumped him in the back of his carriage, and drove her back to the small cottage in the woods that was serving as his residence during the charade. It had been put up overnight and he'd been assured that it had only the minimum when it came to comforts. They'd only stopped to be married at one of his properties, and he'd heard Katherine mutter angrily under her breath that if she'd known rejecting him would lead to this, she would have married him in spite of his beard. His prince self, obviously. Not his minstrel self. Anything would be better to her than that.

* * *

But it was too late. She'd made her bed, and now she had to lie in it. He ordered her to do the usual things: clean his clothes, cook his meals…and fulfill other wifely duties (and as he discovered their first night, sex seemed to be the only thing she was good at, which led him to wonder how many innocent serving boys she'd lured into her bed when her father wasn't looking.)

"How is it that you can do this, but you can't sew a button or clean a dish?" Elijah asked as he ran his hands lightly over her naked body.

"I'm a _princess_!" She cried. "Remember? I have servants to sew my buttons and clean my dishes! Why would I need to learn such menial things?"

"Because you angered the wrong person and have now been forced from your castle to be the wife of a lowly minstrel?" Elijah pointed out. "I bet you wish you hadn't been so cold to all your suitors now, don't you? Isn't there a single one you could have put up with?"

"There's one," Katherine admitted. "But I'm not good enough for him. He's always thought badly of me, and I wanted to make sure he didn't see how badly it hurt, so I decided to be mean to him too."

The admission was surprising to him, and it made him try a different tack with her. The next morning, he informed her that she would no longer have to clean, but that she needed to bring money into the house by selling pottery that she made herself.

"I can do that," Katherine replied, thinking of all the pretty pots and dishes in the kitchen at the palace. But it turned out not to be as easy as she thought and none of her attempts actually turned into something that was worth selling.

"What…what will you do to me now?" Katherine asked when she'd informed him about her failure. "Are you going to hit me?"

"No, but I'm afraid that since you're essentially useless, I'm going to put you into the service of a former employer of mine, Prince Elijah. He's the ruler of this kingdom."

"No, you can't!" Katherine replied, falling to her knees and grasping the fabric of his shirt. "I've rejected him horribly. He'll treat me worse than you do!"

"Would you rather beg on the street?" Elijah asked. "At least this way, you'll have a roof over your head and will actually have a chance to bring money into our household."

"Fine," Kathrine replied. "All right. I'll go and work for Prince Elijah."

"Good," Elijah told her.

* * *

He brought her to the palace the next day and she began her job as a scullery maid. She had a bed in the kitchen and was given very little to eat. The other servants scorned her, perhaps aware that she'd once rejected their master. Eventually she had to turn to the mice and bugs for companionship and even gave them what little food she had, because if she hated being ignored and treated harshly, it must be even worse for them.

Finally, several days after she began her work at Prince Elijah's palace, it was announced that he was going to be married, and a big feast would be served at the wedding. It took several days to prepare, but everything was finished in time.

The servants were told that they would be allowed to attend their prince's wedding and even join in the dances. Katherine was initially hesitant to go, but then she figured that she had to show Prince Elijah that she was still someone who had pride and dignity, despite what she'd been reduced to. She cleaned up the best she could and went with the rest of the servants to the ballroom, where Prince Elijah (who was actually the warlock advisor in disguise) asked Katherine for a dance. The dance was so wild that she slipped and fell, all the food for the mice tumbling from her pockets and making her feel humiliated. Bursting into tears, she ran away from the ballroom and right into the minstrel, who, instead of looking at her with his usual scorn, took her in his arms, looked her in the eye, and asked, his voice full of compassion, "Why are you crying on your wedding day, Katherine?"

"Wait a minute, what?" She asked, stepping away from him and feeling very confused. " _My_ wedding day? What are you talking about?"

He then called out and Katherine was amazed to see the King join them. She was even _more_ amazed to find that the minstrel who had treated her so kindly was actually Elijah himself.

"How can you want to marry me?" She asked, her voice shaking. "I've…I've treated you so badly. I don't understand why you would want me as a servant, much less as a wife."

"Because I think you've learned your lesson," Elijah replied and took her in his arms. "Have you? Have you learned to be kind to others and show them compassion?"

"Yes," Katherine nodded with a sniffle. "The food in my pockets…it was for the mice in the kitchens. I didn't want them going hungry. But that's nothing. I'm still not good enough to be your wife."

"Yes, you are," Elijah replied and kissed her. He then instructed servants to take her and put her in a more regal outfit, and then he took her out to introduce her to his kingdom as their queen. And as a concession, Elijah even shaved off his beard for the occasion.

"You look much better that way," Katherine smiled when she saw. "Although, I'd love you however you look. And you and I are sharing the rule of this kingdom, all right? I'm not just going to sit back, bear your children and be a pretty face. I might not be able to cook, but I can rule."

"I know," Elijah replied. "And I suppose…I suppose that I could ask your opinion on all decisions that need to be made."

"Well, aren't you sweet?" Katherine smiled. "If you do that, in turn, I promise to have your babies. But I'm picking their names."

"Oh, all right," Elijah replied. "But if it's a boy, you at least have to let me in on the decision."

"All right," Katherine replied. "If I must. You're very lucky I love you."

"You're lucky I love you too," Elijah replied and kissed her as the kingdom below cheered loudly for their future rulers. They knew without a doubt that they would live happily ever after.

 **The End**


End file.
